Corned Beef and Cabbage (or how I got lucky): Part 2 of 3

After a week of brining, my beef brisket is finally ready to come out of its spice bath and be rinsed and cooked. It sat in the fridge all week, and I turned it two or three times to make sure all sides got equal time in the brine. It smelled pleasantly of pickles every time I uncovered it, like walking into a deli or one of those old country stores with a big barrel of pickles sitting in the corner.

Detailed instructions for the corned beef and cabbage below. Follow the links above for the other recipes. Happy early St. Patty’s Day! Stay tuned for my actual St. Patty’s day post – I’ll be detailing a great use for leftover corned beef and cabbage – corned beef hash!

Begin by draining the brine and rinsing the meat under cold running water.

Trim excess fat from the brisket.

Add one peeled onion, studded with four cloves, 8 peppercorns and two bay leaves to a pot with the meat. Cover with water and set on the stove to simmer for 2 to 3 hours.

Peel the outer leaves off a head of green cabbage and cut into 8 pieces, removing the core in the process.

Toward the end of the cooking process, remove the onion and add the cabbage to the pot. Let simmer for another 30 minutes or so, just until cabbage is tender.

The end result – buttery, tender cabage and flavorful corned beef!

An interesting note – the pink color you see in the corned beef you get in the packages in the grocery store comes from Saltpeter, or Potassium Nitrate. You can actually purchase Saltpeter if you feel like you’re really missing the traditional pink hue you usually get with corned beef. I read a post recently that said you can use celery juice in place of Saltpeter, as celery has naturally occurring nitrates in it. Of course, I didn’t read this until after I’d already begun the brining process. At any rate, I’m perfectly pleased with the natural meat color of my corned beef, and will most likely continue doing things the way I always have.

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